What if the Collector captured the Foosball table before Ladybug could use it against him?

Collected But Not Calm
Chapter 1: Collected

Chat Noir and Ladybug were at the far end of the dining room of the Agreste Mansion. The Collector pursued them.

Chat Noir threw his baton, and the Collector held out his Book to receive it. The baton was swallowed up and turned into an image, decorated with Chat Noir's symbolic paw print.

The Collector was very pleased. "Nice piece, wouldn't you agree?"

Chat Noir gasped. He picked up one of the dining table's chairs and threw it at the Collector.

Another image for the Book, but this one was too commonplace. The Collector wiped his hand over the image and erased it as his opponents fled the room.

The chair didn't reappear in the room – and the Collector felt something stir in the back of his mind. Why was this a problem?

"It means trouble," said Gabriel Agreste in the back of his mind. "Capturing Ladybug and Chat Noir in the Book could mean you can't get at their Miraculous. You can't erase them back out, grab their jewelry while they're stunned, and put them back in again."

"Who cares?" the Collector said aloud to himself. "I'm the Collector and Gabriel Agreste's problems mean little to me. There's no Hawk Moth to order me around, to send me pain, or to pull my power. I can do as I please. I just want their images in my Book."

Even so, Gabriel's will was strong enough to make the Collector look in a couple of the adjoining rooms for the chair, just in case. It wasn't there.


In the distance, the Collector heard the shout of "Lucky Charm!"

This was very bad! Watching many akuma battles as Hawk Moth had taught him just how effective a weapon the Lucy Charm was. The hint of precognition it gave Ladybug about what to do, plus a huge boost of luck to make her plans succeed, had thwarted him time after time.

He cautiously went to the door of the dining room that lead to the entrance hall, and listened.

"I have no idea what to do with this," said Ladybug. "We need to stall him."

Time to attack! The voice came from the other side of the main staircase. He collected the stairs, revealing them.

Ladybug had a spotted bicycle pedal on her right hip, attached to her belt. That must be her Lucky Charm. If she didn't see a way to use it, the Collector was safe for now.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir, you shall be the masterpieces in my new Book of Inspiration."

The fight got intense. The Collector tried to touch Chat Noir with the Book, and he would have succeed if Ladybug hadn't snagged his arm with her yo-yo. The Collector spun around and hurled the Book at her. She ducked, and also evaded it as it returned to his hand.

The Collector tangled with Chat Noir again, and Chat kicked his hand so that the Book flew out of it.

Ladybug caught the Collector's leg with her yo-yo as he leaped for the Book. As the Collector strained to reach it, it came to him. He touched the Book to the line and the whole yo-yo disappeared. Ladybug staggered back, off balance.

"My collection's growing!" the Collector gloated, looking at the picture of the yo-yo with its accompanying Ladybug icon.

"No!" said Ladybug, clearly anguished over the loss of her weapon.

The two heroes leaped up as the villain threw the Book at them again. They hid on the floor above, concealed by the hall's balcony wall. The Collector couldn't get a direct shot at them.

"So, that must mean... Gabriel Agreste can't possibly be Hawk Moth, since he's been akumatized!" said Chat Noir.

A part of the Collector recognized this thought as the goal of this exercise. He held back for a moment to let them talk.

"You call Agreste turning into the Collector good news?" said Ladbug.

Good enough. The Collector leaped up and captured the balcony wall, exposing them again.


Ladybug and Chat Noir ran into Adrien's room and barricaded the door with furniture.

"Gabriel Agreste's son isn't at home?" asked Ladybug.

"Maybe the Collector's already captured him," said Chat Noir.

"You think he'd take it out on his own son?" asked Ladybug.

The part of him that was still Gabriel cringed a bit when he heard that, but the Collector wished he had gotten the boy. Adrien should have been there – he was grounded, after all. The Collector would have had Nathalie, Gustav the bodyguard, and Adrien all together – a nice set.

"You cannot escape from me," said the Collector, removing the barricade with swipe after swipe of his Book.

The Collector heard Ladybug say something quietly, but he couldn't make it out. He charged into the room.

Chat Noir leaped to the upper shelf level where Adrien had a massive collection of CD's. Ladybug jumped behind the large flat-screen TV.

"But before I immortalize you, allow me to seize your Miraculous for Hawk Moth."

The Collector said that partially as an act, and partially because his Gabriel side was pushing him to find a way to do just that. He pushed the thought aside again in favor of collecting their images.

"Chat Noir, I need ammunition!" Ladybug called as the TV shielding her disappeared.

"You need what?" asked Chat.

"We're gonna complete his collection!" said Ladybug, grabbing a fencing trophy from a shelf.

She back-flipped away from the Collector and threw the trophy against the CD shelves, making a few fall out in front of Chat.

"Very smart, m'Lady. Quite ingenious," said Chat.

"Less talking, more doing!" said Ladybug.

She had leaped to the upper shelf level, chased by the Collector. As she passed Chat Noir, she grabbed his belt and jumped back to the floor below.

That was the moment of truth for the Collector. He knew that when Ladybug took Chat Noir's belt that it had to be for some sort of Lucky Charm assembly. He must not let her complete it!

Instead of engaging Chat Noir again, the Collector leaped down after Ladybug.

She was starting to work with the Foosball table, looping the belt around the player handles on one side.

The Collector flung his Book and the game table disappeared. He landed and the Book snapped back into his hand.

Ladybug was caught off guard when the object she was working on vanished. The Collector swiped her into the Book.

"Nooo!" shouted Chat Noir. He leaped down after the Collector.

Without a pole to change his direction, Chat Noir's path was perfectly predictable. The Collector held up the Book and collected Chat too.

The Collector stared at the images of Ladybug and Chat Noir on facing pages.

"Ha! I've done it! I've done it!"

The inner Gabriel cried out, "What have I done?"


Inside the book, conscious but motionless, Ladybug looked out into the room.

Were they going to be stuck like this forever?